Of Should Haves and Could Haves but Never Were's
by Banshi13
Summary: What could have been or should have been? Here's one answer to that question. The story is finished, please read and review!


"James, have you got Emma ready?"

"Almost dear..." James stuck his head out of the nursery room door. "She's being a little hesitant about her coat today."

Lily rolled her eyes and hauled herself from the kitchen to the stairs. "What are you talking about?"

"She doesn't want to put it on..."

His wife groaned and trudged up the stairs. "Why do _I_ never have any problems with her?" she grumbled as James stepped out of the way. He shrugged his shoulders. "Cause you're mean about it?"

Lily chose to ignore her husband and looked down at her daughter whose blondish red curls were obscuring her vision. "Emma, put your coat on, please."

The little girl shook her head. "Not cold!" she grinned up at her mother with all the cuteness a six year old could muster. Likewise, Lily stared at Emma with all the seriousness a very perturbed mother could muster. "Emma Grace, it's absolutely frigid outside," she reached behind her and grabbed the jacket from James' hands, "now put this on."

"Yea, Emma, come on!" A new, much younger voice entered the conversation. "Put your coat on so we can see Sirius!" Harry James Potters eager and tiny face peaked out from behind his fathers tall and broad form.

"S'not cold, Harry!" Emma insisted, slapping her hands on her hips and glaring at her big brother. A laugh escaped James as his daughter did this and Lily looked over her shoulder at him. "And what is so amusing?"

"She just has this uncanny resemblance to you, Lil..." James shrugged his shoulders but the grin that Lily had fallen in love with so many years ago still did not leave his face. She simply shook her head and turned back to her young, yet stubborn daughter. "Emma, put your coat on, or we can stay at home and Harry and Daddy can go see Sirius."

Emma's surely face turned into a pout but Lily would not budge. "I'll be downstairs getting the port key," she turned and left the room, running back down the stairs of their four bedroom Godrics' Hollow home. As she went into the kitchen, her eyes scanned the small room, looking for the directions to the port. After finding them on the food prep counter she began searching for her purse. She didn't think about the fact that finding the directions, her purse, and now her coat could have been done already had James been more stern with Emma. However, it did no good to try and get angry with the former quidditch player. It never worked. Besides, she was the same way with Harry; the little boy had her wrapped around his finger, just as Emma did with James, and both of them knew it.

A racing of feet down the stairs told Lily that her family was finally ready to depart. "Mommy, Emma's got her coat on, so can we go now?" Harry's bright green eyes were staring up at Lily and the proud mother grinned and bent down to scoop up her son. "Yes, right now!" She glanced around and only then did she notice that James and Emma were not downstairs yet. "Where's your father?"

"Still up stairs with Emma."

"That man has no concept of time," she muttered, walking to the bottom of the steps while still holding Harry. "James' we're going to be late!"

"Yes, love, I'm coming," he appeared with Emma in his arms. "Just had to finish dressing Emma, that's all." Lily didn't bother to tell James that their daughter could have done that herself. After all, the first thousand times had fallen on deaf ears, why should time one thousand and one be any different?

"Alrighty boy and girls, it's port key time!" The kids gave a whoop of glee and James and Lily both grinned at each other over their childrens heads. Port keys were a wondrous thing to the young mind.

"Did you call Sirius?" Lily waited for her family to get out of the house before throwing a finger over her shoulder to lock the door. "No. Couldn't figure out how to use that phonetell thingy..."

"Telephone, James," Lily corrected, giggling.

"Well, in any case, I sent an owl to his residence."

"Good, then he knows we're coming then."

"I said I sent an owl. Never said that he read it, Lil."

Lily took Harrys hand and began walking own the street shaking her head. "But he remembers that we're coming, right?"

"Course he does," James shifted Emma in his arms. "A dog never forgets."

"That's an elephant, dear."

"Hey, I know you didn't like Sirius or me to begin with, but that's no reason to call the man names!"

"Oh good lord..."

"Mommy, guess what I did today?" Harry pulled on his mothers hand to get her attention.

"What did you do today?"

"I made my book come off the ground!"

"All by yourself?" Lily mockingly asked, her eyes wide with feigned surprise. "Uh huh!" Harry grinned proudly up at both of his parents. "That means I'm gonna be a really strong wizard, right dad?"

"Exactly right, son. Just like your old man."

"Only magically, I hope," Lily stopped and looked down at the piece of parchment in her hands. "Alright, there's the hill...twenty paces to the west..."

"Why don't you want Harry to be like daddy, mommy?" Emma tapped her fathers shoulder indicating that she wanted to get down.

"Oh, mommy's just jealous that daddy was better in school than she was."

"No," Lily murmured out of the corner of her mouth. The family had reached the hill and now Lily was counting dutifully twenty steps to the west.

"Why can't I be like daddy, mommy?" Harry raced ahead of his mother.

"Fifteen...sixteen...seventeen...because...eighteen...nineteen...twenty!" She stopped and looked behind her.

"Because why?"

"I can only handle one delinquent in the family."

"What's that?"

"I wasn't a delinquent!"

"Right...there it is!" Lily announced. "Alright James, pick Emma up and Harry, hold tight to your fathers hand."

"But mommy, what's that word mean?"

"I'll tell you later, Harry, I promise."

She took hold of James ankle, then, knelt down to pick the single four leaf clover from it's little spot in the ground...which, luckily for her, hadn't been difficult to find. The ministry had taken the time to weed all the other clovers away. "Three...two...here we go!" Lily smiled up at her husband and children as her little ones squealed with delight. In the five seconds that she and her family were transported to the muggle world, she decided that the little tykes were worth the extra ten pounds.

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"Mommy, I want to go again!" Emma crawled down from her fathers arms and reached for the clover still in her mothers grasp. The little girl was eye level with her mother and it stunned James to see how much his daughter looked like Lily.

"We can't go for another three hours yet," Lily stood up and took Emma's hand, looking around. "Reminds me so much of Knockturn." They had arrived in a dark alley that both James and Lily found more than a little disconcerting. "Well, let's see what we can see, shall we?" James led the way slowly out of the alley, Lily following behind with both of their children's hands firmly in her grasp.

As they neared the end of the alley, the family could begin to see people bustling along the street, huge packages and bags in their hands. Many were wearing coats, hats, gloves and thick looking shoes; it was easy to tell why. The alley had been to narrow to see the snow that was falling freely along the city sidewalks, but once James, Lily, and the kids came out, they could see that there was already about six inches of snow on the ground and more was falling at a leisurely pace.

"Mum, look! It's snowing!" Harry immediately stuck out his tongue to try and catch some of the feather light flakes while Emma looked up at her mother, confused. "Mommy, why's it snowing here?"

"Because it's England and it's Christmas time," Lily answered.

"I didn't know the muggles got to see snow too!"

"Of course they get to see snow!" James laughed aloud. "It's one of Englands greatest things, the snow fall at Christmas time."

"I wanna see Sirius now," Harry stuck his tongue back in his mouth and looked around, as though he thought that Sirius was somewhere near by. "Well then, let's go. Come on, this way!" James waved at Harry to walk beside him while his wife and daughter pulled up the rear.

"Dear, do you remember where that little café is that Sirius wanted to meet at?"

"Yes, it's right down the way here a couple of blocks!" Lily called up to him. She glanced around for a time piece and her eyes widened. "And a good thing too, we're going to be late if we don't hurry!"

James grinned. "We could always apparate there..."

"James, watch what you say around here!" Had Lily been close enough she would have swatted him over the head, as was her custom when he said something stupid.

"Aw, relax, Lil, no-one heard me..." James stopped at the intersection, grabbing onto Harrys arms as they crossed the road. When he and his son reached the other side, he turned around and crossed his arms, smirking. Lily had gotten lost in the crowd of people also crossing the walk. When her read head finally emerged, her arms wrapped around Emma, he called out, "come on Lil. I thought you grew up here!"

Lily knew full well what James meant by 'here' and she merely rolled her eyes. "Doesn't mean I know every trick in the book," she retorted, setting Emma down on the ground again. "Mommy you lived here?" Emma asked, looking around with her finger to her mouth as though she were trying to decide what to do next. "That's right. I was born right here in England."

"But that means you grew up with mug-" Harry was cut off by a stern looking from his mother. "That's right, Harry. Until I got my letter from school when I was eleven. You'll get the same letter in a couple of years." She knew that that topic would deter Harry from any more conversations about muggles and their realm and turn it completely and utterly to Hogwarts. Just as long as he didn't mention anything about magic, they would be fine. They continued to walk along the busy streets, occasionally bumping into people until the came to a small pizza parlour.

"It smells good!" Emma exclaimed. James opened up the door to the parlour and let the other three go in front of him. The first thing that he did when he got into the café was to look for his old friend, and he finally found him, sitting in a corner booth with a mug in front of him, twirling his fork between his fingers.

"I must say, over the years you've gotten better at that, mate, just not as good as me," James swaggered up to Sirius and plopped down in the booth across from him. "Yea well that's all right," Sirius grinned. "There are plenty of other things I'm better at then you. Mostly everything really, now that I think about it."

"Oh Sirius, don't be ridiculous, everybody knows that you can't think at all." Lily's voice chimed in and Sirius, instead of looking at Lily, turned his gaze towards Emma. "Lily? Lily, is that you? My goodness, look at how small you've gotten!" Emma started giggling, hiding behind her hand like a young lady would. "What ever has happened to you my dear, is James not feeding you enough? I didn't know adults could get shorter as they got older!"

"Uncle Sirius, it's me! Emma!" Emma jabbed at her chest with a finger, but was still laughing.

"Well, you don't say!" The children's Godfather winked at James. "I almost didn't recognize you, you look so much more like your mum every time I see you." He opened his arms and Emma practically flew into them. Harry was right behind his sister and soon the only thing James and Lily could see of Sirius was his head and his arms, which were wrapped around the kids.

"How have you two been, good? Behaving yourselves?" A chorus of 'yes's' filled his ears and he nodded. "So James is slacking off on teaching you two how to mis-behave then, eh?"

"Oh no, he's not slacking off at all," Lily interrupted, sliding in beside James, "I'm just very good at catching them before they do something silly."

"Same old Lily, always ruining our fun," Sirius hoisted Emma above his lap and settled her on the inside of the booth so that he was between his God daughter and God son.

"Hm, well, if I didn't, the both of you would more than likely be in Azkaban," Lily picked a menu from the clip on the side of the table and began to thumb through it, James peering over her shoulder.

"We weren't that bad!" Sirius exclaimed, knowing full well that he and his friends back in the past had, indeed been that bad, but before Lily could add words to the look she was now giving him, he had handed the two kids a menu and was describing for them what was on it. Both children finally settled on two children's pizza's, one with pepperoni for Harry, and the other a plain cheese for Emma.

"So how have you been?" James asked after deciding what he wanted. "I've been good, actually, nothing going on on my end of things," Sirius answered, glancing over his own menu.

"Everythings quiet around here still?" Lily murmured and Sirius nodded, though she couldn't see it. "The ministry wasn't sure if any of His followers were 'here' so to speak, but just in case they sent a few of us out for a couple of months to scout around, see what we could find. So far, none of us have found anything. It's like we're on vacation or something." He was about to say more when Harry jumped in.

"Uncle Sirius, guess what I did today?" Sirius tapped his chin with his finger and pretended to think very hard.

"Let's see...what could you have done...what...I've got it, you caught a werewolf!" James very nearly choked at that remark.

"Nope!"

"You...hmmm...it's got to be something good...ah, you have ensnared the Devil's Snare!"

"Oh for...that was horrible, Sirius!" Lily exclaimed. Harry was shaking his head no.

"No? Well then, well, well, well...ummmmm...you have...you've finally managed to come up with a potion to fix your fathers unsightly hair!"

"NO!" Harry laughed aloud while Emma's mouth hung open. "Daddy, he made fun of you!" She announced incrudeously.

"Yes, I know dear. Don't worry, daddy will get him back later." He winked at his daughter and she winked back, a kind of code that the two had on their own.

"Well then, I give up," Sirius let his hands fall to the table and he slumped in mock defeat. "What did you do today?"

"I raised my book all by myself!"

"Harry, your voice level..."

At his mothers words, Harry immediately lowered his voice to a whisper. "I raised my book off the ground!" He repeated.

"Well, now! That's quite a feet there, no wonder I didn't think about it!" Sirius clapped the boy on the back. "Raising stuff already, eh you two? You've got a strong one here...ah, here we are." At that point the waitress had come to take their orders, and within fifteen minutes, three piping hot pizza's were sitting on the table with soda's to wash them down with. Emma and Harry had their own pizza's while the three adults had a large one to split between the three of them.

"So what about you two?" Sirius asked after he'd gotten three slices onto his plate. "What have you been up to besides keeping these two in line?"

"The same as you, really," James replied. "They go to a young witch and wizard academy during the day while Lil and I are at the ministry, but things have been so slow there that there are some weeks we can take off three or four days...it's been quiet the past couple of months."

"Yes, a bit too quiet if you ask me," Lily added in, watching her daughter carefully. Emma had a habit of taking to much into her mouth at one time. "My instincts are telling me that something big is about to happen...but no one can say what." James nodded, agreeing. "What do you think, Padfoot?"

"I agree...to quiet to quick if I do say so myself, and I do, make no mistake about that." Sirius finished off a slice of pizza and started on the second. "The last place we located Him at was His fathers home...after that, it's like He's dropped off the face of the earth. No one's talking...no spies, no prisoners we've got in Azkaban, nobody in Hogsmeade, no one in the government here..." he shook his head. "It's like He never existed."

"We could only be so lucky-Harry, slow down, you'll choke on your drink!" Lily reached across the table and pulled the cup away from her son's mouth. When she'd settled back in, she continued to listen to the conversation.

"You've talked to all the internals?" James asked, referring to the spies that the ministry had planted within Voldemorts ranks. Sirius nodded. "Every last one of them. None of them have been contacted."

"You're sure you've talked to all of them?" James looked at Sirius very closely, and he could just faintly see the twitch at the corner of his friends mouth.

"Mostly..."

"Padfoot..." James sighed and leaned against the plush booth. "You haven't contacted Snape yet, eh?"

"I don't trust anything from that greasy, big nosed, sallow skinned, yellow teethed-"

"Alright, that will do," Lily cut in her eyes darting back and fourth between her two children, who were now listening with earnest to Sirius. "Oh...sorry, Lily...kids, what I said was very bad. Never say it...never. Shame on me." He tisked himself with his fingers.

"Sirius, you should get in touch with him...see if he's heard anything." James took a sip of his drink. A grumble from his friend told him that he'd won the match. Sirius didn't want to talk about Severus Snape any more than he had to.

"So, what have you two been up to all these days?" Sirius asked the kids. Harry was still nibbling on his pizza but Emma was ready to answer her God father.

"Goin' to school!" Emma yelled. Sirius made a face. "You like school, huh?" The little girl nodded enthusiastically and Sirius shook his head, glaring at his friends. "What have you done to her?" James only looked at Lily. "That's your daughter."

"We like school," Harry agreed and James made a startled gagging noise while Lily smirked, swallowing her pizza. "And that's your son," she blew a kiss at her husband and brushed some hair out of her way.

"Well what about the social aspect of things?" Sirius leaned back and looked to both of the kids. "Have you made a lot of friends."

"Oh yes!" Emma exclaimed. "Lots of friends! There's a girl in my group and she's got really long hair and and she's always talking to this other girl and the other girl has long hair too and they both have the same color hair too!"

"Yea but their always talking about girly stuff," Harry protested, "but there's this kid in my group and he's got a lot of brothers and a sister and we play with his older brothers. They've got a lot of cool toys...they had this one candy that if you ate it, it would turn your tongue blue and put a flower on it!"

"The Weasley's," James supplied, seeing Sirius' confused look, "Molly and Arthur have their hands full with the twins...they've been getting rather uh...interested in pranking."

"A little too interested if you ask me," Lily wiped her hands of the sauce and sat down, satisfied with the meal, "I spoke to Molly a few days ago and she said that Fred and George have been holed away in their room for hours on end and out of no where, she'll hear tiny explosions." Sirius laughed.

"Any other kids you're playing with in your class?"

"There's a boy named Seamus in our class...he talks weird though, I don't know what he's saying sometimes," Emma said, screwing her nose up. Sirius cocked and eyebrow. "Seamus huh...does he talk like this: Hello, how are you?" He spoke the last sentence with an Irish accent and Emma's eyes widened. "How did you know that?" she asked, like Sirius had just figured out the answer to the worlds biggest problem.

"Seamus is Irish, sweetie," Sirius said, moving his arm so that Emma could climb into his lap, "that's how Irish people speak."

"It's weird though," Emma looked up at Sirius and the man nodded. "You'll get used to it. Pretty soon, you won't even know it." He turned to Harry. "Who else is in your class, Harry?"

"Well..." the boy thought hard. "There's this one boy...I don't play with him though. He's mean to the other kids." Out of the corner of his eye, Sirius saw a knowing look pass between James and Lily. "He's mean eh? What does he do that's mean?"

"He pushed a little girl on the ground!" Emma hugged tighter to Sirius and the poor girl looked like she was going to cry. Sirius frowned. "Now that's not very nice."

"I know! Daddy said that boys should never hit girls," Harry said, "but that didn't stop Draco."

"Draco huh?" Sirius now understood what the look between his friends had meant. "Like father like son I'm assuming."

"Assumption correct," Lily sighed, rubbing her head with her fingers. "The sad thing is that the boy doesn't know any better. With a father like Lucius, how could he?"

"Granted," Sirius shrugged and he's eyes caught the clock. "Wow, we've been here two hours and I still have Christmas shopping to do..." The kids eyes lit up at those words. "Christmas shopping!" They yelled. Harry stood up in the booth and Emma did the same thing, although it was a bit more difficult for her because she was sitting on his lap. "What are you getting?" she asked him as she climbed up.

"Oh, I can't tell you that, Emma," Sirius grabbed hold of Harry's waist and slid out of the both, Emma hanging onto his neck. James and Lily simply watched, confident that Sirius had everything well in hand...no pun intended.

"Just tell us one thing!" Harry pleaded. Sirius shook his head. "Nope. Can't. The presents might disappear if I did that." Although both children tried, no amount of pleading would make Sirius say what he was getting for anyone. The asking continued as the bill was paid, as they walked out the door, and as they walked down the street to the corner block when finally their parents put a stop to it. They would have before, but they were to busy laughing at the antics in front of them.

"Come on you two, you know Sirius can't tell you anything," James scooped up his daughter. "Besides, we've got some shopping to do of our own." That was enough for his daughter. Her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. "Can we go now?"

"You want to go now?"

Emma nodded her head and James looked at Lily. "I don't see why not. We can go to Diagon Alley for a bit, we're in the neighborhood...oh wait, we've only got a half hour to get back home, we'd miss the port key."

"We can always go home by Floo powder," James suggested. "Yea, they've got Floo booths in Diagon Alley now," Sirius added. "You just have to buy the powder, that's all." Lily shrugged and nodded. "Well then, I guess we're all set."

"And I'd better run," Sirius knelt down and gave each of his God children a bear hug. "Be good for your parents, I'll see you on Christmas day, alright?" Harry and Emma nodded and when Sirius stood up, he shook James hand and pulled him into a slight hug. "You be good too, or nothing for you come Christmas day,"

"Oh, shut up you mutt," James grumbled good naturdley, "I'm always good."

"Not true, you're just not always caught," Lily corrected, stepping into Sirius to give him a hug. "Take care of yourself, owl us if you need anything," she told him. Sirius gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll do that. Just be sure to keep him in line, I think that'll be your only problem...Christmas coming up and all."

"I don't even want to think about that right now."

"Alright then," Sirius shoved his hands into his pockets. "I'll see you all soon. Be safe out here...people and these bloody cars...I swear, if everyone would just get brooms, it would be a lot easier."

"You can't blame them too much Sirius. They are muggles after all-ow!" James had a hand instantly to where Lily swatted him. A final wave and the two groups departed, Sirius along his way, and the family of four heading towards Diagon Alley.

"Mommy, what are we shopping for?" Emma came along side her mother and held onto her hand. "Presents for our friends. What do you think we should get the Weasley's?" Lily asked, hefting her daughter up as she crossed the road.

"A blanket!" Emma suggested. "A blanket hmmm? That sounds like a good idea," she looked behind her at James and Harry. "Are you two coming?"

"Yes, I'm just explaining to Harry about what delinquent means," James answered. Lily raised her eyebrows. "Oh?" She looked at her son, cuing him to tell her the latest word he'd learned. And he did.

"A delinquent is a witch who spends all her time with her nose in a book." He looked up proudly at his mother. Lily just looked at James. Then-

"YOW!"

Fin


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